The men’s and women’s tennis teams went 1-1 over a packed weekend, each defeating Cornell University and falling to Columbia University. The No. 40 men (14-5, 1-1 Ivy) hit the road for their matches, while the women (5-7, 1-1 Ivy) hosted the teams. The men beat the No. 52 Big Red (10-7, 0-3 Ivy) 4-2, before dropping the match against No. 17 Lions (16-1, 3-0 Ivy) 4-0. The women defeated Cornell (7-6, 0-3 Ivy) 6-1 at home on Friday, but fell 6-1 to No. 33 Columbia (14-2, 3-0) team on Saturday.
The men’s match against Cornell opened with three hard fought doubles matches. Although the teams of Dovydas Sakinis ’16 and Brandon DeBot ’14 and Diego Pedraza ’17 and Chris Kipouras ’15 both served for the match, only Sakinis and DeBot were able to come away with a victory. The Big Red came away with the lone doubles point, leading the Big Green 1-0 entering the singles matches.
Dartmouth then took four of five completed matches for four points. Sakinis was the only Big Green player to drop a match, losing 7-6, 7-5. George Wall ’17 was the only Big Green player to not play in a tiebreaker, while Cameron Ghorbani ’14, Kipouras and DeBot fought through tough matchups to eventually defeat their opponents.
Kipouras secured the overall victory for the Big Green with a dramatic third set tiebreaker victory at the number two position. After dropping the second set, Kipouras bounced back in the third to win 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (9-7).
It was a short-lived celebration for the Big Green, which then traveled to Columbia to play the Lions, a team Dartmouth lost to 4-3 in the February ECAC Indoor Championship in Hanover. The Lions pulled away this weekend for a 4-0 win.
Columbia won the doubles point with two convincing victories at the number two and three spots. At the number one spot, Brendan Tannenbaum ’16 and Ghorbani were leading the seventh ranked doubles team in the nation 6-3 before doubles play was suspended.
The match then proceeded quickly. Tannenbaum, Pedraza and DeBot all lost in straight sets. The rest of the singles matches were left unfinished after Columbia reached the 4-0 mark.
The matches opened League play for the Big Green men, who enjoyed success against non-conference opponents earlier this spring.
“The Ivy League matches were what we expected,” Wall said. “They were at another level of play and competitiveness to our non-conference duals.”
The team also stressed the importance of remembering that this is just the beginning of a long season.
“Obviously we would have liked to have won both our matches this weekend,” DeBot said. “Despite the setback against Columbia, we still have everything to play for this season.”
The women’s weekend started with a 6-1 victory over Cornell. The Big Green started the day with a dramatic doubles point win. After captain Melissa Matsuoka ’14 and Akiko Okuda ’15 defeated their opponents 8-5, Julienne Keong Si Ying ’16 and Suzy Tan ’16 won their tiebreaker 7-4 to secure the point for the Dartmouth women.
Dartmouth won the first set on all six courts in singles play. Taylor Ng ’17 put in an impressive performance at the number two position, winning the second set in a tiebreaker. Katherine Yau ’16 won at the number one position in three sets. The only loss for the Big Green came after the overall victory was assured. Jacqueline Crawford ’17 suffered a tough three set loss at the third position, and the Dartmouth women won the remaining three matches in straight sets.
On Saturday, Dartmouth lost 6-1 to Columbia team in a tight match. After the Lions dominated doubles play, four of the six singles matches went into three sets. The lone point for the Big Green came from Okuda, who posted a three-set victory at number five.
Ng battled senior Bianca Sanon, who was the ITA Northeast Regional Championship runner-up in both singles and doubles. The score for the dramatic match was 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4).
“It was really great to play someone that challenged us so much,” Ng said. “It definitely gave us a lot of confidence moving forward.”
The men’s team will host the University of Pennsylvania this Saturday and No. 59 Princeton University on Sunday while the women hit the road to face the Quakers and the No. 69 Tigers.
“Columbia and Cornell both had very aggressive crowds,” Tannenbaum said. “Something that definitely affected our matches. That’s exactly what we’re trying to emulate this weekend at home.”
